Wanting to carry kayaks and canoe in my retail business

[luremaker]

Hey all,
I need some help. I've just relocated my sporting goods business to a new bigger location and am wanting to carry canoes and kayaks. I have access to all the ones Bass Pro shops sells as I already have a wholesale account with them.

I've contacted Nucanoe and Wilderness systems.

What other affordable canoes and kayak brands should I look at? Hobie would be too pricey for my area. My customers will be mostly under $1000.00. Don't know if I will have more fishermen or just recreational floaters?

Anyway, what other brands should I be looking at?

Thanks.

[alexava]

I got my Future Beach Trophy under 400$ a couple of years ago and it is a good one for the $. Stable, no problems. Made in Canada. Good luck.

[TurboDan]

This will be my next kayak (I own two Native kayaks)... it pushes the $1k limit, but have seen them at local kayak store at lower price.

Diablo Amigo Recreational Kayak

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nVwQhrg3bgg

-danny

[Dutch552]

Old Town, Jackson, Ocean Kayak are all popular in my circle of fishing friends who do not own Hobie or Native.

[bigjoeed]

Check out tihis web site , www.ultraskiff.com

[STUMP HUNTER]

Would be hard to top Perception Kayaks for a line of kayaks that would go through all price ranges.

Homepage - Perception Kayaks

[bfish]

I would look at dealer support and minimum order/shipping size. Nothing worse than having to wait 20+ weeks for stock to arrive or being forced to take stock that doesn't sell well in your area. I would avoid brands that are sold in large big box stores, you won't have buying volume to compete on price.

For fishing kayaks, Jackson leads in bringing new designs to the market. Also being a smaller company, I would think that their support would be great.

Confluence (WS, Perception, Mad River, Dagger, Wavesport etc) is a biggie, but not sure how many of their brands you can actually carry.

Native/Heritage/LiquidLogic is anther large group

Johnson Outdoors is another large conglomerate with Old Town Canoe/Ocean Kayak/Necky Kayak

FeelFree is a foreign made brand, has some good fishing designs but since you are already carrying BPS's Ascend, I would think these would directly compete with a product line you already have.

For canoes I would carry a brand like Novacraft, Bell, or Esquif. Many canoe brands are quickly disappearing due to both the lack of sales and the discontinuation of Royalex material.

[RetiredRR]

I realize there are numerous folks that will for whatever reason prefer a canoe over a kayak. After having experience with both, I'm glad I graduated to the kayak
for my fishing pleasures. Got to keep the younger generation in mind when stocking a kayak that appeals to them and their fun on the water. Next to my property
I have a creek that empties into Eagle Mountain Lake and a feller up the creek from me guides kayakers down the creek on tours. Even the kids paddle along with
the adults. Have never seen a youngster paddling a canoe. He rents only sit on tops. He purchases all of his kayaks off Craig's list, so there is no particular brand
affiliation. Good luck on your growth and future endeavors.

[Knot2Bad]

I would recommend that you contact a Kayak club in your area. They could tell you what their members use (SOT, Fishing , Lake, River,White Water or somewhere in between). I am sure they will be all over the map. I am in a club here in TN although I have only been out 4 time in 2014 because of knee problems. But our members are 6 to 80 yrs old and everyone has their own levels of comfort. Once you get going you usually have more than 1 kayak. I have 3. You also need to determine what your wanting to sell with regards to Kayaks and accessories. Check our Dicks, Gander Mt and Sports Academy they have good selections . Being your on this site perhaps fishing Kayaks are what your looking for. Just do a google and see what pops up. Here are some names not included above. Feelfree, Wilderness Systems, KC Kayaks . Then you have gear and accessories for them. How far down the rabbit hole do you want to go...

[OptiMystic]

Perception has a varied yak line as someone else mentioned. I love Ocean Kayaks, but in MO it might seem out of place (people are funny about that). In a non big box store you may do best trying to go with one line like Old Town that lots of people know and they have canoes and kayaks. OT Otters are a decent entry level yak and they have some nicer SOTs to move up into.